A Heart to Heart
by hslippery
Summary: A short one shot about Hikigaya Hachiman taking responsibility. Figure out the pairing yourself guys...


Cold winds blew across my face, startling me back to reality. I found myself on a small porch, well…maybe not a porch, but more of a slightly decrepit backyard. Kids' toys lay everywhere, the small yard littered with plastic digging tools and other useful things. I smiled, something I had been doing with alarming regularity for the past few months. Almost a year now, I reminded myself.

Two warm hands wrapped themselves around my waist, and someone stepped up, hugging me. From the contours of her body, I knew very well who the person was.

"Monologuing again, are we? Penny for your thoughts?"

"Not worth it." I replied gruffly.

"What's not? The penny or the thoughts?"

"The thoughts." I said. Such small pointless conversations, I had realized, really helped our bond. We would just tentatively test waters, and make ourselves at home with the moods that pervaded the other person. I had to keep in mind what made her annoyed and what made her happy all the time.

I sighed again. It was one of the more difficult things to do. But despite that, and all the other things I might complaint about, being in a relationship gave me strength from sources I would never have anticipated in my past.

That's right. I, Hikigaya Hachiman, admit that loner-ism may not be the very best option all the time. Sure, it would the best option _most_ of the times, but I no longer held pride in my past status of a loner.

Of all the things, I would never have thought I would mature this much, but I find myself surprised that after all the efforts from the members of the service club, and our outrageously violent but wise and beautiful, and single may I add, mentor, I have actually become more responsible by getting into a relationship. Who would have thought it would come to this?

My previous self would have mourned the loss of the wall I built around myself with a snide internal comment such as 'the Hachiman has fallen' or something along those lines. Oh well, the idiocies of past are the mistakes of past. Time to move on.

"Hachiman," she breathed close to my ear, startling me back, "no need to give me the silent treatment. Try talking about what you're thinking, please."

Oh yeah, we had talked about this, about letting each other know what we were thinking. That way, she said, there would be little chance of either of us misunderstanding.

I had argued, stupidly, as evidenced by the painful punch I had received in the ribs, that words could never convey our emotions fully.

"So what?" She had demanded, her eyes blazing with fire, "at least we'll be making an attempt at understanding each other. Do you have a better idea, Hikigaya?" Ouch, she had called me by my family name. That couldn't be good.

"No, ma'am, I don't." I had replied, my eyes cast downwards.

And that had been when I tried to open myself up even more.

Well, we all had walls, but we also had this innate desire to see if there was someone who could find a hole somewhere and try to look inside, figuring out who we were. At least, that's how it was for me.

Once again, I felt a slightly harsh knock on the top of my head.

"Ouch, what was that for?" I demanded in a soft voice.

"I just asked you to tell me what you were thinking, didn't I?"

Oh, I had started reminiscing again. Well, I can't help now can I?

"I really can't help it, my lady." I said, all gentlemanly and proper. "It's in my rotten bones. You can see its effects in my rotten eyes." I joked.

I felt yet another knock on the head, this time harsher.

"Ou-"

"Don't deprecate yourself. You have a good personality. You keep helping others, never take credit for it. You are amazing with small kids, you handle others problems at your own expense and time, and you have very…beautiful eyes."

I could imagine her blushing after that stutter. God I wish I was facing her. Her blushing face was so cute…

"Yeah, yeah." I said softly, then turned around, placing my hands behind her head and burying her head into my shoulder.

"Where's your sister?" I asked.

"Upstairs. Asleep." She said, her voice muffled by my shoulder.

"Well, it's almost time your parents came back home. They come together, right?"

"Yes, they do."

"Well, I'll meet them, then leave."

She removed her head from shoulder, a worried expression on her face, then asked, "You aren't going to do something stupid, are you?"

"Nope. I certainly am not." I said promptly.

"Thanks." She smiled. God, that smile…

"Okay, I'm going to head inside and keep Komachi some company."

"Sure." I said, sad to see her go, but relieved nevertheless. What I was planning to do would probably go better if she wasn't around.

I sighed again, feeling a little jittery. Meeting someone's parents and having a serious talk was never something I would have thought I would do myself. Oh how the times have changed.

The small family car pulled into the parking in front of the modest house I was in a little while later.

Two people came out, looking extremely tired. I felt a little bad for her father, putting him through all this serious talk after he had come back from a long day of work.

But the talk had to be had, that was for sure.

I greeted them, like I had so many times before, when I had come to their house. Believe it or not, I don't think they still had an idea that I was…dating their daughter. They still thought I was here because of my sister, who had a good reason to be here too.

Although Komachi certainly knew about us. And never missed a chance to remind me of that either.

I decided to let them eat and relax for a bit before talking to her father. Might as well do the thing with him not hungry and in relatively higher spirits.

Half an hour later, after a short dinner, the family decided to retire to the living room.

And I managed to isolate my intended target and drag him out to the balcony on some bogus pretext. Very amusing how easy it was to bring him out.

"Ah, so, Hikigaya-san, what was it that you really wanted to talk about?"

Well, there goes my confidence in my manipulative skills. He wasn't so easy to fool after all. Even if he was a corporate slave.

I smiled disarmingly at him hoping he didn't see anything untoward regarding why I had bought him out on a manipulative context.

"Well…" Now that it was my opportunity to speak out, I just couldn't say it. I felt my knees weaken a bit, my throat suddenly dry and my palms were definitely sweating. Damn it, my courage had deserted me at the perfect moment.

"Hikigaya…" I looked at him and he was smiling a tired smile. "Don't sweat it. Just come out with it."

And I had a sudden suspicion he already knew what I was going to talk about. I gulped. Not going according to plan, this one. Yeah, no kidding, my sarcastic inner self sniggered.

"Well, the thing is…"

"This is about Komachi san and Taishi, isn't it?" He asked suddenly.

No, so he didn't have an idea.

"Wrong pair." I gave him a watery smile.

"Huh?" He scratched his head.

"Not my sister and your son, but her brother and his sister." I said, trying to make things even more cryptic.

Idiot, what a strategy, make yourself a bigger fool now, moron.

"I don't really understand…" he said, his hands still in whatever he had left of his hair on his head.

"Me and Saki." I said.

It took a while, but light dawned in his eyes, as if a mental bulb had been switched on all of a sudden.

"And?" His voice took a sudden edge, a sharper one.

Time to dig into my speech material I prepared earlier.

Why did I get into a relationship with Saki? What was it that got us together in the first place?

I don't know. I really don't.

She had always been so family centered, we had barely known each other before. No, I corrected myself. _I_ had barely known her before. She had always had an eye on me, since I had helped her with the scholarship thing. Amazing how such a small thing got her attention.

Anyhow, there was a rather sharp man awaiting my answer, and I had to give him one.

And so I laughed.

That's right, I, Hikigaya Hachiman, who never laughs, laughed at such an inappropriate moment, it was comical in itself, my timing of laughing. Of all the times.

He twisted his head around, surprise on his face.

"You know, when I first said I loved her, it was rather inadvertently. I was just running along in the hall, and I wanted to thank her for a piece of information she had given me. So I said, 'Love you Kawasaki.', and she actually took that to heart." I chuckled.

"Well…, you can kill me now." I said knowing I was royally screwing up this serious talk.

"We're getting there." He said with a dangerous glint in his eyes. "We're awfully close to being there."

"Well, in my remaining time, then, I would like to tell you a bit about how this came to be, and why I wanted to talk to you about this, man to man."

"I'm listening."

I took a deep breath.

"Saki… she's the best thing that's happened to me in a really, really long time. To be frank, I'm still trying to figure out how all this happened in the first place. I used to be pretty cynical about relationships in general."

I sighed, breathing out, then continued.

"That changed after she asked me out. Since then, it's been a lot of good things for both me and her. I…enjoy being around her. And I know that's definitely not enough to be telling you about this in a such a serious setting, but happiness is not something I come across easily."

I looked up at him. "She's a very caring person. But you know that already. She takes care of everyone in the house, from Taishi to Keika. She's reserved about her opinions, but when she starts giving them to those she loves, she won't stop…ever."

"In short, it's just not something I or her chose. It…happened. That's the best way I can describe it. She has this special ability…she can transform the people around her by her caring attitude."

It was time for me to stop rambling now. I bowed

"So, if I could," I said hesitantly," could you please bless-"

I looked up in surprise. Kawasaki san was giggling. No, he was full out laughing, his hands around his stomach.

Oi, if you're going to laugh, don't laugh in such a clichéd fashion.

And could you stop laughing? I'm being totally serious here.

"Hiki-Hi-Hikigaya san." He managed, choking with laughter.

"You think we didn't know? There are very few secrets around this house you know? We might be away a lot from home, but Keika is still her father's girl. She tells me everything. And of course it looks to her that the two of you are really close friends, but we know better."

Wait, we? "Who's we?" I asked with trepidation. Please let it not be her, please, not her.

"Her mother, of course." Dang, the seriously scary Mrs. Kawasaki. Now I've done it.

"Seriously, though." His laughter had subsided. His eyes were full of mirth.

"We knew. We've known all along. Saki may not feel very comfortable around her mother, they're too alike to be too close." No kidding, they can both be super scary.

"But, I think it's still….yeah, I definitely approve. Hikigaya-san." He looked at me suddenly.

"You've been a very positive influence on Saki ever since you came into her life. I later learned about her late night extra work hours. I would've been very angry with her. Not only was she sacrificing her study time, but she was also going against the law, all for some extra money. She didn't come to me, and that's what made me so angry."

"But, it's fine now. She won a scholarship, thanks to your help. I hear you've been helping her with her studies and that you're quite the whiz when it comes to humanities."

"Also," his eyes went down, and he shocked me by suddenly bowing, "Thank you very much for supporting my daughter and encouraging her for her interview for the scholarship. As her father, I should've been there. But if I had, I would've lost my job."

"But, this is fine." He said softly, raising his head once more. I was still rooted to the floor with shock.

"It's fine, as long as she had someone she trusted to support her. And that's fine with me."  
"I just gave her some advice. It wasn't anything special." I said. The poor guy must feel left out, what with his corporate slave job and so on.

"Well, you were there for her when it mattered, and that's what counts." He said. And to that I had no answer.

"Anyhow, Hikigaya-san. I trust you can treat a woman right?" He said suddenly, all previous softness replaced with a hard edge.

"Y-Yes, certainly." I stuttered. "I intend to be there for her and help her for as long as she will have me." I reaffirmed.

"That's good then. That's good. Just remember," he turned sideways, "I still have the hunting rifle from my younger days. And last year, I got the first place for the 16th year running in the local marksmanship contest."

Scary, really scary. My god, why did I have to deal with such psychiatrically unhinged in-laws? Wait, why did I just think of him as an in-law? Oh dear, something was happening really fast, and I didn't like it.

"Well, better come inside now. It's freezing cold outside." He said, turning away and walking inside, and I followed.

Hachiman:1, Failure:0

I had certainly accomplished what I had dragged him out for, and it was all fine now. I had approval from at least her father. I would deal with her mother later. Besides, if they already knew about us, it would be much easier to deal with her.

I walked up the stairs to the room Saki shared with her sister.

I knocked lightly.

"Come in." Came her light voice.

I turned the knob and quietly entered, making sure not to make too much noise. Keika was fast asleep on her bed, and Saki was folding her clothes on her bed.

She smiled and even in the dark room, her face lit up, or so it seemed to me.

"You took your sweet time." Her eyes suddenly clouded with worry. "You were with father, weren't you?"

Damn her perceptiveness was at a terrifically high level.

"Yes, I was." I replied.

"So?"

"So what?" I teased her.

"Hachiman…don't do that, you idiot." She lightly smacked my arm.

"Hey, don't go waking the kid up." I said.

She glared daggers at me.

"Sorry, sorry," I said in a placating fashion, raising my palms.

"We had a…talk. Man to man. Just one of those talks that we guys have."

"Oh? And what do these talks entail?" She asked with upturned eyes. It was so difficult not to wrap my arms around her.

"Oh, just this and that." I left it at that. Some things were better off not discussed, especially with a woman.

"Allright." She sighed. "You're obviously not going to tell me more."

"Let's just say…we came to an agreement."

"What kind of an agreement."

"One where…" I was truly at a loss for words. "One where I take over regarding certain things."  
"Oh? Such as?" her eyebrows went higher up.

"Such as…well, such as taking care of you." I whispered the last part, my eyes downcast. But I knew given her close proximity that she had heard me anyway.

All of a sudden, I felt a heavy weight all along my frontal body, and I was pushed back onto the bed, Saki on top of me.

"Hachiman. Thank you." She was nearly incoherent, and I could feel warm wetness as she cried into my shoulder.

Who knew Kawasaki Saki could be such a warm teddy bear? Who knew she could be so easily moved to tears? I certainly didn't. And in that moment, I was glad I found that out. And glad that I found her too. And everything in between.

 **A/N** : Been itching to do a Saki fic right from the beginning. I actually started writing with that as my original objective, but got sidetracked with…another character. Anyhow, that's a wrap folks. Hope you enjoyed it. This is my first time writing something so romantic. Hope you all like it.


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